Improvement in weaving cut-pile fabrics



PATE-NT OEEICE.

THOMAS CROSSLEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING CUT-PILE FABRICS.

. Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 11,038, dated June 6, 1851.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, THOMAS CRossLEY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cut-Pile Carpets and other Similar Fabrics; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact deseription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

The fabric which mine most nearly resembles is manufactured only in Turkey, and is known as the Turkey carpet. The process by which it is made is slow and expensive, every individual thread of the tuft or pile being knotted into the body of the carpet by hand, so that it cannot be drawn ont, and in consequence this carpet is strong and durable beyond anything which has heretofore been attained in carpets or pile fabrics that are produced by the process of weaving in a loom.

Figure l shows two longitudinal sections of the fabric of tapestry carpet, the left-hand portion being upon the line A A and the righthand portion upon the line B B of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same upon the line C C of Fig. I. d is the coarse linen warp, which .is strained tight in the loom; h,

the fine warp; c, the lower shots; d, the upper shots of the iilling; f, the tuf-t or pile. The back of this carpet is composed wholly of linen or cotton, the fine warp being generally made to cross at every two shots of the shuttle. In the above-described specimenit crosses at every third shot. The pile is held down upon the surface of the cotton or linen cloth by a single shot, or, at most, by two shots, as seen at d in Fig. l. The material which forms the pile is not Woven into the body of the cloth, of which it in no case forms a part. Carpets of this description are therefore speedily inj ured by wear, for the operation of sweeping has to beperforrned very thoroughly in order to remove the dirtfrom the tuft or pile, while the latter, being butimperfectlysecured to the body of the carpet, is easily disturbed or torn out altogether.

Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section of an uncut Brussels carpet upon the line D I) of Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the saine through the line E Eof Fig. 3. g is the linen warp; 7L, the upper shot of linen filling; t, the lower shot; k, the pile; fm, the dead or stuffing chain, which will be hereinafter referred to. In carpets of this description, whether cut or uncut in the pile, the dierent-colored threads not required in the iigure upon the face of the goods are made to run longitudinally through the back of the fabric, where they lie, as it were, dormant, and form what is called the dead or stuffing chain, serving only to give body to the back of the goods. This is rendered necessary in Brussels carpets (the yarns not being dyed in the loom) by the fact that, while but one color is in use upon the surface of the fabric at a time, the others must be at hand to be brought up when required. The yarnswhich form this stuffing-chain are not woven up and down through the cloth, nor do they form a part of the woven fabric, but lie concealed within it. At no time, therefore, vcan a greater proportion than one-fifth of the worsted be used upon the face, the remaining four-fifths being thrown into the back, as before stated. Thus it will be seen that a large proportion of the most expensive part of the stock is made to lie dead Within the body of the cloth. It will also be seen upon an inspection of Fig. 3 that, except where the colors change, the loops of the pile are held to the surface of the carpet by a single shot of filling. The pile is therefore very liable to be Withdrawn or swept out when it is cut, and were the attempt made to fasten` it more securely by passing a greater number of shots over it, or by weaving it into the fabric, the loops would be thrown too far apart and the pile would not be sufiiciently close.

Both of the above descriptions of carpets require to be woven upon very complicated and expensive looms, the Brussels requiring a Jacquard machine and the tapestry a costly` apparatus for printing the yarns in the loom. To avoid these inconveniences and to produce a carpet with a pile that cannot be torn or swept out, and which may at the same time be woven upon a plain loom without Jacquard or dyeing apparatus, is the object of my present invention, which may be described as follows:

Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the carpet upon the line F F of Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a longitudiropposite sides of the shed.

nal section of the same, the left-hand portion being cut upon the line G G and the righthand portion upon the line I-I H of Fig. 5.,`r

n is a heavy linen or cotton warp, which is kept at all times tightly strained and which forms one side or otherA of the shed, the other side of which is formed by a woolen warp; which is allowed to remain loose or but slightly strained. These two constitute the only warp of the carpet, and they are constantly upon 0 is a fine linenl or cotton illing,which is shot below the coarse warp n. p is a similar filling upon the upper surface of the linen warp. The operation of weaving this carpet is as follows:l The shed is opened by depressing` the woolenr Warp and raising the coarse warp. The shot lis then thrown in, and in beating up the woolen warp, being comparatively loose, is drawn down to the lower surface of the cloth.`

The woolen Warp is then raised and `the linen:

warp depressed, `the shot of filling 2 being thrown in. The beating up draws up the woolen chain around the last shuttle-thread, as before, and the shed is changed again, the woolen passing down and the linen up, and the thirdy shuttle-thread 3 is thrown in. The shed is then changed and the wire is put in to form in the ordinary manner into the surface of a plain fabric; and it is this peculiar construction of the fabric which constitutes the novelty and forms the basis of my invention, and by 'which I am enabled to produce a fabric with the pile standing close all over its surface at the same time that it is securely interwoven through the body of the carpet. This I believe has never been accomplished before. It

is my intention to weave this fabric of uncolored yarns, and after shearing the pile to print the same in the most improved manner. I shall thus produce, at a much reduced cost, a rich velvet carpet having all the beauty of the most expensive tapestry carpets printed in the loom, with the additional advantage that the pile, though dense and close, cannot be swept or torn out from the background, an item of the first importance in a carpet of this description, and one which will render this carpet far more durable than any cut-pile carpet heretofore made, the Turkey. carpet alone excepted.

"What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The above-described method of Weaving a cut-pile fabric-that is to say, interweaving the pile into the body of the clot-h-by looping it over a shot of filling on the top of the foundation-warp and under a shot of lling under the foundation-Warp, in the manner dec scribed, and for the purpose set forth. v

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature.'

TIIOS. CROSSLEY.

In presence of- CAUSTEN BRowNE, II. B. SPINNEY. 

